10 Doctor Who Guest Actors Who Also Played The Doctor

They're all the Doctor, the Timeless Child said so!

Doctor Who Lenny Henry
BBC

Despite his denial, the rumours continue to circulate about Hugh Grant playing the role of the next Doctor. However, a lot of people forget that he's already been the Doctor!

For a couple of minutes one night in 1999, Hugh Grant played the Twelfth Doctor in a comedy sketch written by Steven Moffat. The Curse Of The Fatal Death hints that the Doctor and the Master have more than a friendship and it even ends with the first female Doctor. It's basically a thumbnail sketch of Moffat's era! If Grant is in line to play the next Doctor, then he wouldn't be the first actor to have appeared in some form beforehand.

Peter Capaldi and Colin Baker both had roles in the series before eventually being cast as the Doctor. But it's not the Sixth and Twelfth Doctors that this list is interested in. Doctor Who has been around for almost six decades now, and in that time there have been stage plays, comedy sketches, and audio dramas. Not all of these have featured the "official" Doctor actor in the role, however.

This list collects some of the big-name stars who have both played a version of the Doctor (they're all canon now, Timeless Child says so) and appeared in the TV series itself as another character.

10. David Warner

Doctor Who Lenny Henry
BBC

David Warner was reportedly Steven Spielberg's suggestion for Doctor Who in the TV movie, but it's said that the actor didn't want to be tied down to a long-running series. Warner finally made an appearance in the series proper in Cold War, a minor and some might say disappointing role in an episode written by his friend Mark Gatiss.

The two had previously played the Doctor and Master respectively in a Big Finish audio entitled Sympathy for the Devil. It was released as part of their Unbound series, during Doctor Who's 40th anniversary year. Each play was a "What If?" Doctor Who story, such as "What if the Valeyard had won?" or, in Warner's case "What if the Doctor was never UNIT's scientific advisor?"

Jonathan Clements' story finds this alternate Third Doctor accidentally sent to Hong Kong 1997, rather than England 1970. He finds his old friend the Brigadier running a bar in the city, after being dishonourably discharged from UNIT. The two old men join forces against the Master and some ancient alien parasites. It's a great Doctor Who story, and Warner was so good in the role that he's continued to play the so-called Unbound Doctor in numerous audios for Big Finish.

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Contributor

Citizen of the Universe, Film Programmer, Writer, Podcaster, Doctor Who fan and a gentleman to boot. As passionate about Chinese social-realist epics as I am about dumb popcorn movies.